Former Rep. Dick Schulze, who represented the Philly burbs in Congress for 18 years, has died at 96

Former U.S. Rep. Richard “Dick” Schulze, a Republican who represented the Philadelphia suburbs from 1975 until 1993, died last week at the age of 96.

Mr. Schulze, who served in the Pennsylvania General Assembly before running for Congress, died of heart failure in his home in the Washington, D.C., area on Dec. 23, according to a news release from his wife, Nancy Shulze, and former chief of staff Rob Hartwell.

During his first term in the U.S. House, Mr. Schulze led the charge to make Valley Forge, seven miles from his home at the time, a national historical park. President Gerald Ford signed the legislation Mr. Shulze authored into law on July 4, 1976, the nation’s bicentennial.

By the time he retired from the House in 1993, Mr. Schulze was a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He spent his whole congressional career in the political minority, retiring shortly before Republicans retook the chamber in 1994 for the first time since the mid-50s.

“He knew what he believed and he stood for what he believed but he was not, he was not partisan,” Nancy Schulze said in an interview with The Inquirer Tuesday.

Mr. Schulze’s former employees described him as tough but fair, demanding a lot of his staff but offering them the space to achieve it.

“You really had to be at the top of your game,” said Tim Haake, a former attorney in Mr. Schulze’s congressional office who had reconnected with him in recent years. “Overall he was a very nice man, very polite, very cordial.”

Mr. Schulze, Hartwell said, “probably taught me more in my life than anybody.”

Hartwell remembered his former boss as a man willing to work across the aisle in a way that is less common in today’s politics. Mr. Schulze founded the Congressional Sportsman Caucus and served on the National Fish and Wildlife Board among other posts focused on wildlife.

Hartwell recalled that Mr. Schulze played a key role in securing the 1983 release of Romanian Orthodox priest Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa who had been held as a political prisoner in the country, representing President George H.W. Bush in negotiations with the country’s communist leaders.

Serving in the minority throughout his career, Hartwell said, Mr. Schulze was willing to make deals and work for the benefit of his district, which included portions of Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester Counties.

“He was a man of his word and he was a man who wanted to accomplish things for his district and his constituents,” Hartwell said. “Unlike today he would reach across the aisle to get those things done.”

Mr. Schulze unsuccessfully proposed a constitutional amendment imposing term limits of 18 years for members of the House of Representatives. Although the proposal did not advance, Mr. Schulze himself chose not to seek reelection in 1992 after serving 18 years in office. He went on to work as a lobbyist for a conservative firm.

“He did not cling to his role as a congressman and he did not go to occupy a seat,” Nancy Schulze said.

Nancy Schulze and Dick Schulze were married following the 1990 death of his first wife, Nancy Lockwood Schulze, after a battle with cancer, and the death of her first husband, Montana Secretary of State Jim Waltermire.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Schulze is survived by four children, seven grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

Nancy Schulze remembered her husband as a gentleman, an Eagle Scout who lived by the scouting oath and was dedicated to loving and serving his country, state, district and family.

“He was a man of dignity,” she said.

Services to honor Mr. Schulze are scheduled for Saturday Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. at the Great Valley Presbyterian Church in Malvern.